In The News

Beijing Sanctions Over Arms Sales Could Backfire

Jamil Anderlini, Kevin Brown February 4, 2010
China threatened to impose sanctions on US defense companies, including Boeing, following their participation in the Obama Administration’s intended arms sale to Taiwan. But China could be shooting itself in the foot. Boeing enjoys a dominant presence in the Chinese commercial aviation industry. In addition, China’s hopes to develop its own jumbo jet by 2020 depend on continuing technical...

The West Owes Haiti a Bail-Out

Gary Younge February 4, 2010
Last month's earthquake in Haiti may have been a natural disaster, but the devastation extends to the country's unfortunate position in the global political economy. Many Western experts say Haiti's underdevelopment stems from internal factors like government mismanagement and corruption. Yet Haiti's struggles are also due to centuries of destructive external pressures. For...

China’s Strident Tone Raises Concerns Among Western Governments, Analysts

John Pomfret February 1, 2010
China’s response to Washington’s plans to sell weapons to Taiwan is part of the recent change in tone in China’s relations not only with the US, but also the world. That change likely stems from China’s ever increasing importance on the world stage as well as new confidence generated by its survival of the financial crisis relatively unscathed. But domestic insecurity over unrest in its western...

The US: A Worried Obama Should Worry The World

Edward Luce January 28, 2010
A year after his inauguration, US president Obama has already seen his star sink. Slipping in the opinion polls and with his Democratic party losing its supermajority in the Senate, Obama appears weaker and threatened. What he does next is likely to have a profound effect on the rest of the world. His recent State of the Union Address provided some insight on those subsequent actions, especially...

India Wants to Join the Non-Proliferation Treaty as a Weapon State

David P. Fidler, Sumit Ganguly January 27, 2010
The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) has suffered a lot of dents of late from its signatories: North Korea and Iran are just some examples. But the long standing refusal of India, Pakistan, and Israel – all possessors of nuclear weapons – to accede doesn’t help either. However, India has recently made overtures that it wishes to join the NPT as a nuclear weapon state (NWS...

Europe and an Inscrutable China

January 26, 2010
Only a few years ago, some of Europe's most respected thinkers and leaders called for increasing ties between the European Union and China, championing the EU's supranational and cooperative structures as a potential attraction to China. Now, as China has proven unwilling to cooperate with European approaches to international issues, Europe is reconsidering its stance. For example, in...

Climate Of Politics

Nayan Chanda January 22, 2010
The Copenhagen conference seemed to reveal more about the current global balance of power than to resolve how to mitigate climate change. The US turned its back on Europe to get a chance to measure developing countries’ emission reduction efforts. While Europe’s attempt to mandate a 50 percent emissions cut was blocked principally by China, supported by India, Brazil, and South Africa. The reason...